Scouring pad



Aug. `15, 195o y R w, GEFELDT 2,518,984

SCOURING PAD Filed April 19, 1948 Inl/enfer:

Ria/mrd wf//f m agp/df W, il# n Y Patented Aug. 15, 1950 suoniamo PAD aicharaswiuiam oefent, sfwcaoim,.sweamas-YA signor' to Getram [Company-,1nd, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Yonk. .I

" Application April 19, 1948, Serialo: @1380'.5-4

. InlSwedcn April 22, 1947 The present invention relates to scouring pads ofgthe type which are used. for scouring pots' and similar kitchen utensils, and whichlare made, ina.,mannernknown per se, ofa length of tubular knitted fabric of` steel wire, or other metal wire having a flattened cross section, each end of the tubular fabric member being rolled. back ann-ularlyr upon. itself. towards` the central portion of :said 'member so. as. to` form .two annularv rolls or bodies of substantially equal size joined by a short intermediate portion of said knitted fabric member. It has previously been proposed to manufacture such scouring pads by first rolling both ends of the tubular fabric member back annularly upon themselves to form two annular rolls or bodies, and then turning one of said bodies relatively to the other body through a portion of a whole turn, in such manner that the intermediate portion of the tubular member assumes a helically twisted shape, after which one of said rolls or bodies is forced over the other annular body to the opposite side thereof. Finally, the two rolls or bodies are preferably secured to one another by spot welding at two or more points along the circumference. The manufacture of scouring pads according to this prior method has proved to be comparatively expensive, however, for the rea-son that twisting one roll or body relatively to the other, as well as forcing one body over the other and securing the bodies to one another by welding must be performed by hand.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate this manual work and thus tov considerably reduce the cost of manufacture of the scouring pads. With this object in View the method comprises causing both ends of said length of fabric to roll back annularly upon themselves toward the central portion of the length of fabric thereby to form two annular rolls or bodies of substantially equal size joined by a relatively short intermediate portion of the fabric, and winding a metal wire around said intermediate portion of the length of fabric so as to contract it to a diameter less than that of said annular bodies, whereby said annular bodies are pulled against one another and the portions of fabric extending between said metal wire and said annular bodies form together an open-meshed central portion of the scouring pad within and intermediate said two annular bodies. The winding of the metal wire around the inter- Imediate portion of the knitted fabric and thus the contraction of said portion can be effected by the use of machines. The contraction ofy rciaim. (oms-#2091) '4 'y the intermediate l portioni results` in the` two; an;- nularfbodiesA being; held against. one. another in such manner that it is unnecessary to'secure them by welding.

. The: invention. comprises; scouring. pad-s. manufacturedaccording to this. method.

The invention will now.: be further: described; reference being.` had" tok the: accompanying.' dra-wing which' shows a. scouring-padl in. various; stages of its manufacture. Fig. 1 shows the tubular knitted metal wire fabric, both ends thereof having been partly rolled back annularly upon themselves. Fig. 2 shows, in side view, the completed scouring pad with the intermediate piece of fabric contracted or gathered together by the metal wire wound around the same. Fig. 3 is a cross section of the scouring pad on the line III-III in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a section of the pad on the line IV-IV in Fig. 2.

.The illustrated scouring pad is manufactured from a steel wire which has been rolled between a pair of rolls so that it obtains a attened crosssectional shape and in this way acquires suiciently sharp edges for scouring kitchen pots and the like. This flattened steel wire is then woven or knitted, as in a knitting machine, into a tubular or sleeve-like fabric which is cut in pieces of a suitable length. Fig. 1 shows a length l of such fabric. It has been found in practice that when the length of fabric is out off from the rest of the knitted tubular fabric, the ends of the cut-olf length of fabric begin, of their own accord, to roll back upon themselves and to form two annular bodies 2, as shown in Fig. 1, which is probably due to the tension set up in the meshes due to the fabric being knitted from flatrolled wire. It is sufficient, therefore, to subject the two annular bodies 2 thus formed to a slight pressure in the axial direction in order to cause the said bodies to roll up further so that the length of the intermediate piece of fabric is reduced to the desired value, and the annular bodies 2 acquire the desired thickness. A metal wire 3 of appropriate thickness is now wound around the intermediate portion of the fabric midway between the two annular bodies 2, and by tightening said metal wire 3 the intermediate portion of the length of fabric l is gathered together or contracted to a diameter less than that of the annular bodies 2, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3, so that the contracted portions thereof which obtain the shape of conical surfaces, form together an open-meshed central portion 4, see Fig. 4, within the two bodies 2. This contraction of the intermediate portion of the fabric also results in the two bodies 2 being drawn more closely against one another in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. The scouring pad is now ready.

In practice it is preferred not to gather together the intermediate portion of the fabric completely, but only so far that there remains a s-mall opening 5 in the center of the open-meshed central portion 4. In this manner the scouring pad can more easily be rinsed clear from food particles under a water tap, and further, the scouring pads may be thread on to a long mandrel or the like upon which they can easily be further compressed, if desired. The opening 5 should not be so large, however, that a nger can be pushed through it when the scouring pad is used.

The constructional form above described and illustrated in the drawing is only to be regarded as an example, and it will be understood that the details thereof may be modied in various ways without departing from the principle of the invention.

I claim:

A scouring pad, comprising a tubular knitted fabric member of metal wire having a ilattened cross section, both ends of said tubular member being rolled back annularly upon themselves toward the central portion of said member so as to form two annular bodies of substantially equal size joined by an intermediate part of said tubular member, and a, metal wire wound to form a ring around said intermediate part of said tubular member and contracting it to a diameter substantially less than the inner diameter of said 'annular bodies, thereby forming `contnacted portions of said intermediate part of said tubular member which extend between said metal wire ring and each of said annular bodies, said contracted portions forming conically flaring web-like central portions of the scouring pad within said annular bodies thereof.

RICHARD WILLIAM GEFELDT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,482,016 Kingman Mar. 20, 1924 1,659,977 Kingman Feb. 21, 1928 2,350,357 Kelman June 6, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 414,099 Germany .May 27, 1925 869,915 France s Feb, 24, 1942 

